There They Are
by DefyingMyGravity
Summary: Dave has a bit of a bad day, and Kurt cheers him up in an odd, unintentional way.


**A/N: Just a random thing I thought up. I don't particularly like it, but it made ~ExperimentalHeart laugh when she read it, so I'm gonna roll with it. This is more of a friendship thing than a potential relationship thing, but I'm sure you guys won't mind.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, okay? Please stop trying to rub it in. And I swear, I will one day buy Chris...and Richard Grayson. Yeah.**

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Dave exited the bathroom of the Strider home and took the short walk down the hallway to his bedroom, right beside Bro's. His hair was damp and a towel hung around his shoulders to keep it from dripping onto the shirt he had just put on. His red eyes were slightly squinted; he was so unused to the light that his sunglasses usually blocked out. But he'd forgotten to bring them with him when he brought the rest of the clothes he had planned to change into after his shower. He had left Kurt with Bro – he assumed they were in the living room by now –, seeing as Kurt hadn't gotten pushed into the dirt by some of the school idiots.

They never liked him, or his attitude. Most people stayed away from Dave, and he was okay with that. It's not like he cared about any of them, anyway. But he'd never purposefully gone looking for trouble. It was just that no one liked the way he acted, as they saw it, high and mighty. Apparently, it was some kind of silent signal for everyone to hate Dave, to push him around and treat him like the dirt under their feet or – in the best case – act like he wasn't there at all.

At any other time, he would have turned around and punched them for what they had done. Who cares if he got into a fight; he could just go to another school like he always did. Sure Bro didn't like it, but he knew he couldn't blame Dave. But this wasn't like any other time. This time, Kurt had a hand on Dave's arm trying to help him up. This time, Kurt was there looking worried and asking if he was okay. This time, Dave had someone to think about before he rushed off like – he was able to admit in his mind only – an idiot.

That didn't make him any less angry about it, though. Even now he was feeling a little steamed. But he attempted to keep his cool, with the use of his ever-ready poker face, for the sake of Kurt. He remembered how Kurt had looked when they came in and were faced with Bro.

_"Dave, what happened? You look like you took a mud bath with your clothes on," Bro asked. Dave shrugged off his veiled concern and moved farther into the house. But he stopped when Kurt spoke._

_ "These jocks from school pushed him over," Kurt said, following closely behind Dave. Bro raised an eyebrow at Dave with a slightly disapproving look on his face._

_ "Am I gonna get a call later saying something about this?" he asked, looking between the two boys for an answer. Dave shook his head, careful not to fling dirt from his hair onto the carpet._

_ "I didn't hit anybody," he muttered before turning around and finally heading toward the bathroom. Kurt still followed behind him, though. He paused and spoke as they neared Dave's room._

_ "Do you need any help? You know, getting the dirt out of your hair or something?" Kurt asked. Dave straightened up from gathering some new clothes to wear and looked at Kurt. Kurt's face was set into a concerned frown and he was wringing his hands discretely. Dave shook his head again, taking off his sunglasses and setting them on the table in his room. He walked past Kurt, who stepped out of the doorway to let him go through._

"_Nah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute," he called out over his shoulder without looking back at Kurt. Then he entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him._

It definitely wouldn't help Kurt to see Dave angry right now. Dave looked down at the small table in his room when his hand didn't touch his sunglasses in the place he was sure he'd placed them before leaving his room. They weren't anywhere on the table. He briefly searched the places in his room he could've put them instead, but came up empty. His sunglasses weren't anywhere in his room.

He stepped out of his room and into the hallway, prepared to call out to Bro and have him help look for them. But he stopped just short of it, seeing a movement in Bro's bedroom. He stepped silently into the doorway, and saw something he never thought he'd see.

Standing in front the full-length mirror on the wall of Bro's room beside the door, was Kurt. In his hands were Dave's sunglasses and he was staring at them, turning them in his hands. Suddenly, Kurt put the sunglasses on his face and…struck a pose in the mirror.

"Dave Strider," Kurt said in a voice much lower than his own, crossing his arms over his chest with a brooding expression. Dave stifled a laugh behind his hand; Kurt was trying to imitate him! He leaned against the doorframe, deciding to watch the show while it lasted.

Kurt did dozens of poses and said a number of things that Dave himself had said many times, either to Kurt or around him. He played with his hair, trying to make it look something like Dave's without messing it up completely. He took a leather jacket that had been lying on Bro's bed and put it on, adjusting it to make himself look big and tough. Dave had to cover his mouth and turn away too many times to count to prevent Kurt from noticing him standing there. But the best moment by far was when Kurt went back to his crossed-arm, frowning look in front of the mirror. He opened his mouth to speak and –

"What the hell are you doing, Hummel?" a voice behind Dave asked, sounding amused. Both younger boys spun around to face Bro, identical looks of surprise on their faces. Dave, recovering from his shock quickly, glanced back at Kurt and snorted. The other boy had turned so fast that the sunglasses he'd had on were half off, only covering one eye and leaving the other visible. His hair looked even more a mess than Dave had first thought, as he'd failed completely to recreate Dave's hairstyle. His face was as red as a cherry tomato, almost making Dave want to ask him if he was breathing at all.

"Dirk!" Kurt squeaked out, his voice now an octave higher than normal. Bro raised an eyebrow at him, and took a step forward.

"I think this is mine," he said, pulling lightly on the arm of the leather jacket Kurt was still wearing. As Kurt hurriedly shrugged out of it, Bro took the sunglasses off his face and tossed them to Dave. Dave adjusted his shades while smirking at Kurt, making the boy continue to blush. Kurt glared at him as well as he could when barely looking at him out of embarrassment. He left Bro's room, with Bro following after him.

"You could have said something," Kurt hissed as he passed Dave. Dave shrugged, grinning, as he followed behind Bro.

"Nah, it was too fun to watch," Dave replied easily. Once in the living room, Dave toweled his hair briefly before announcing he was going to put the towel away and making his way down the hallway once more. Kurt remained sitting on the couch, too afraid to look up at Bro – or do anything for that matter. But Bro walked over from the kitchen to stand right beside him.

"Hey, Hummel," he said, prompting Kurt to look up. Bro glanced down the hallway, obviously checking for Dave, before speaking quietly.

"Thanks. Dave hates people like the guys that pushed him. I think he would've done something if you hadn't been there," Bro said seriously. Kurt just stared up at him. He hadn't even thought of the fact that Dave might have wanted to do something back to the people who pushed him down. But, looking back on it now, Dave had looked pretty angry for a while.

"And that bit of…entertainment you provided helped get his mind off it, too," Bro said with a smirk, obviously attempting to once again lighten the mood. It worked; Kurt blushed and looked down at his feet again, muttering something under his breath. Dave came back just after, and raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Do I want to know what you're doing?" he asked them. Bro smirked and turned to go back to the kitchen.

"Nothin'." He said airily. But Bro turned his head and winked at Kurt before disappearing into the kitchen. Though he was no longer there to see it, Kurt smiled back.


End file.
